Torchwood, Life and Everything In Between
by OrchidDreamer
Summary: Well it's what the title says, kind of. Life in Torchwood had never been easy especially for one Ianto Jones,but he was getting there until someone from his past returns and suddenly life gets complicated not just for Ianto but for Torchwood as well. R
1. Torchwood

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: So here is the first actual chapter to this story. I never actually intended to write a story about Torchwood, but this jusy wouldn't leave me alone and I needed my head full of more important things like chemical equations for my exmas. As a result I wrote parts of this story as they came to me, and I thought since I'm writing it all up anyway, I might as well post it. Thus, here is the result. I hope you like it!  
**

The Doctor and Serena stood in silence, staring at the TARDIS console, only the sound of the TARDIS' humming could be heard. The Doctor glanced sideways towards his companion, contemplating whether to say anything or not; he settled for not. Serena sighed and turned her head meeting the Doctor's gaze, this was the first time during her travels with the Doctor that she had to see so many people die. After a while the Doctor finally spoke.

"So where to now?" he asked. Serena was silent for a moment before answering.

"I wanna go home," she whispered. "I just need some time," she explained

"OK," the Doctor replied and started fiddling with the console.

"When is it? Present day I mean? The Date?" she questioned

"It's…oh December 1st," he replied

"Doctor you know I'm not going forever, just for a little while, oh and could we go to Cardiff?" the Doctor's head snapped in her direction.

"Why Cardiff?" he asked

"I have family there," she replied. The Doctor nodded, before frantically running around the TARDIS as if he was looking for something.

"Found it!" he yelled from another room.

Serena stood confusion plastered all over her face as the Doctor walked back into the console room.

"Seeing as I'm dropping you off to Cardiff fancy doing me a favour for Sarah Jane?"

"What favour?" she asked wearily

"I normally wouldn't ask but seeing as I'm not sticking around for long could you find Torchwood and give them this file?"

"Sure," she said taking the file from the Doctor's hands "But how do I find Torchwood?"

"Use this in an open space," the Doctor replied handing Serena a gun that obviously wasn't a gun.

"What is it?" she queried.

The TARDIS landed outside an apartment complex. The Doctor helped Serena with her things, and they moved them to one of the apartments in the building that was owned by her friend. After they had moved everything, the Doctor and Serena stood outside the TARDIS while saying goodbye, they then hugged and Serena started to move away from the TARDIS.

"Hey Doctor! If you're not doing anything come by at Christmas. I mean it; I'd like it if you did come," The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Oh and any ideas about the file? What it could be?" the Doctor's smile faltered.

"No, sorry,"

"It's ok," she replied smiling and waving him off.

The TARDIS soon disappeared with a gust of wind. Serena sighed, and made her way up to the apartment, and it wasn't long before she was bored. Once she was bored, she decided she might as well get dealing with Torchwood over with, so she got up grabbed her bag and made her way to Roald Dahl Plass.

Serena stood with her back facing the Millennium Centre; she quickly opened her bag, took out the gun, and then closed the bag again. She then fired the gun three times in the air and waited, putting the gun in her back pocket: her top was long and baggy enough to hide the fact that she was carrying a gun. It wasn't long before she heard footsteps and turned around to find a man in a strange coat walking towards her.

"Hi," she said smiling when the stranger stopped in front of her

"You're coming with me," he said

"Honey, I wouldn't come with you if you were the last man in the universe," Serena replied, gaining a light chuckle from the stranger.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said extending his hand

"Serena Jones," she replied shaking his hand, but he didn't let go and pulled her towards the lift. "What are you doing?"

"You've got something that doesn't belong to you and I need to know how you got it," he said

"Who are you?" she asked

"Torchwood," Serena smiled which surprised the Captain.

"Good, that means I'm in the right place," she said before the invisible lift started to move. Jack frowned, not understanding what the girl meant by her last sentence.

"So what do you call this place?" she said looking at Jack when the lift stopped.

"It's called the Hub," a familiar voice said from beside. Serena's head snapped in the direction of the voice.

"Ianto?" she whispered, "What are you doing here?" she asked

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied. Jack's frown deepened.

"You two know each other?" Jack asked

"Yeah," Ianto replied nodding his head.

"Ok, that's great but back to the point. Jack what is she doing here?" Gwen asked

"The signal the computer picked up came from her," he replied.

"Well, not me it was this," Serena said taking out the gun, "But that's not important or interesting, this is," she continued throwing the gun towards Jack, who caught it and taking out something from her bag.

"That's a file," Ianto stated dryly, "Nothing interesting about a file," Serena smirked.

"No, but what's inside it is," she replied.

**So? What do you think? Your opinions are very important to me, so please review!**


	2. The Case

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: So, I'm back, been really busy with work and sorting stuff out for uni that I didn't have time for writing, but stuff is settling down and I should be able to update more frequently now. Yay! And, who watched Children Of Earth last week? What did you guys think? I thought it was quite good, but could someone tell me, you know how the series was about sacrifice, what exactly did Gwen and Rhys sacrifice? 'cause I know what the others sacrificed but not those two, so it you know could you please pm me and let me know 'cause it's really bugging me! Thanks in advance! Also, how rubbish was the end of day four? I wont specify incase you haven't seen it yet but seriously? Although to be frank I kinda knew that would happen to that person so it wasn't really that much of a suprise. What did you guys think? Anyway, enough about that. Here is chapter two, enjoy!  
**

"Well what's inside it then?" Jack said his interest peaking slightly

"It's a potential case for you lot," Serena replied, handing the folder over to Jack who looked slightly confused but intrigued nonetheless.

"And you came across this how?" Ianto asked. Serena smiled slightly.

"Well, I'm actually doing this a favour for a friend, and she gave it to me," she replied.

"What friend?" Gwen asked.

"Well, you know her actually. Sarah Jane gave it to me, thing is she lost your number and couldn't contact you, nor could she look into it herself, so when the Doctor and I visited her she asked him to pass it along to you guys, but we kept getting sidetracked and we eventually forgot about it. Well that is until I said that I wanted to go home for a bit, and then the Doc remembered and gave the folder and the 'gun' to me, the gun was just to get your attention," Serena explained

"You were with the Doctor?" Ianto asked slightly irritated, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell me you work for Torchwood?" she countered, "Besides, you knew I was going travelling, and technically I was," Ianto was going to respond before Jack cut him off with a look.

"Back to the point, what does the gun do? And what is our potential case?" he inquired

"The gun, well the Doctor doesn't explain things well but from what I understood, it's a kind of tracker. When you fire the gun, a signal is released that can be tracked on a computer, if the computer's looking for the right kinda signal, like yours, and it's tiny, just a blip, doesn't last very long but lasted long enough for you to find me, " The three members of Torchwood in the room nodded their heads in understanding.

"Ok, so let's move this thing up to the boardroom and you can fill us in on the case," Jack said before they all moved towards the boardroom. Ianto arrived a little later, having gone and made a fresh batch of coffee for everyone.

"So, what has Sarah Jane found?" Jack asked

"Well, when her kid Luke came to Cardiff for some sort of exchange programme, I think, he went to the performing arts school here, you know 'The Academy',"

"Yeah, apparently it's one of the best performing arts schools in the country. It's the place to be if you want to make it big," Gwen added.

"So, what about it?" Jack said motioning for Serena to get to the point. Serena gave him a look before continuing.

"Well, while he was there, quite a few students went missing and that seemed like the norm. When Sarah Jane looked into it she found that a lot of students do go missing from the school, but because it's such a tough school people just thought that they dropped out or got expelled or something, but when Sarah Jane checked it out with some of the students who were missing parents, they didn't even know they were missing. And none of the kids who went missing were from Cardiff, because those who are live at home, those who aren't live in dorms. But, it's not only that because some of the students come back, and some are never heard from again, and the students that do come back act strangely according to their friends. But, the really weird thing is that when the students go missing the school fills up the empty spaces now available, but there is always enough spaces not filled for the people who do come back, and you don't know how many are gonna come back, unless you're involved somehow," she paused," And that's all she got, she thought it would be easier for you guys to check out since your based in Cardiff and the schools in Cardiff," Everyone, turned to Jack expectantly. Jack sat silently for a few moments before saying anything.

"Ok, well we'll have a look and see if it is anything alien, though Sarah Jane usually isn't wrong," he replied, "Gwen, go dig up as much as you can about the school before we decide how to proceed," he said before getting up and leaving the room, without another word. The three remaining occupants of the room looked at each other and shrugged before going to their respective stations. Gwen went to her station in the hub to do research, while Ianto and Serena went up to the tourist shop cover for Torchwood.

"So, how long have you worked for Torchwood?" Serena asked

"Since moving to London," Ianto admitted. Serena nodded her head.

"So, then what really happened to Lisa?" she questioned. Ianto looked up at her, tears beginning to form in his eyes, even after all this time it still hurt to talk about Lisa especially since Tosh and Owen.

"She was killed because she was partially converted to a Cyberman," he replied quietly. Serena sucked in a breath.

"I'm sorry Yan," she whispered, "But you know, I never really liked her anyway," Ianto laughed at that.

"Yeah, I know. No-one's good enough for me in your eyes are they? But you could have been nicer to my partners you know," he said

"Hey, I was nice to her," Serena pointed out, "But I think I might have found someone who is," Ianto raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"Yeah, I'm sure you have – " Ianto had begun to reply before the secret door opened and the two fell silent.

"What?" Jack asked, "You weren't talking about me were you?" he said grinning. Both Ianto and Serena rolled their eyes.

"No, Jack we were not," he replied dryly

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that Yan," Serena said. Ianto knew what she had meant but made no comment, he just shrugged, while Jack stood confused watching the two.

Ianto woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes cooking and someone singing. He rolled his eyes knowing it was Serena, partially because Jack was still sleeping but still, she had decided to move into his apartment, well technically both of theirs, he reminded himself before getting out of bed and making his way to the kitchen.

Serena stood in the kitchen singing along to the radio that was now playing 'Breathe Slow' by Alesha Dixon and cooking her favourite Saturday breakfast: pancakes when Ianto walked in.

"Morning," she said smiling, "Pancakes?" she asked placing a plate full on the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

"Thanks," Ianto said before sitting to eat and Serena went back to cooking and singing. Not long after Jack emerged from the bedroom. Serena smiled at him and handed him his plate of food before sitting and eating her own breakfast.

"Who was singing?" he asked sitting down next to Ianto.

"Serena," Ianto replied. Jack said nothing nodding his head, but a plan was slowly forming in his head.

**So? What did you guys think? And seriously if anyone knows the answer to the question I asked in my a/n, please let me know yeah. And review please! **


	3. Plans and Talks

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update, it's just I've been so busy with work that I haven't had time to write! I'm so sorry! But to those of you still reading this, I thank you and hope that you enjoy this next chaper.  
**

Jack, Ianto and Serena were the first to arrive at the Hub. Jack went straight to his office, while Ianto went to make coffee.

"Could you check on the rift, and scan for any activity last night?" Ianto asked Serena.

"Sure," she replied making her way to the Hub's computers and got to work. Ianto arrived a few minutes later, with three cups of coffee.

"Here you go," he said while passing her the steaming cup of coffee.

"Thanks Ianto," she said before taking a sip, "I can't remember the last time I had a cup of your coffee,"

"It was a while back,"

"Yeah but seriously, I've known you for so long, it's a shame we don't ever get to spend a lot of time together, and that you still haven't given me your secret to amazing coffee," Ianto smiled

"Yeah well that's one thing you're never gonna get," he replied causing Serena to pout, "So, anything yet?" he asked pointing to the computer.

"Nope, nothing yet," she replied. Ianto sighed.

"Ok, well I'm gonna go give Jack his mug of coffee," Ianto said. Serena nodded silently in reply.

It was at that very moment that two more people arrived. They made their way to their stations, both of whom froze when they saw someone at the computer, someone neither of them knew of.

"Who are you?" the man asked. Serena turned her head in the direction of the person.

"I'm Serena, and you are?" she asked

"Mickey Smith," he replied. Recognition flickered through her eyes, and Serena smiled.

"Oh, _you're_ Mickey Smith; does that mean your Martha Jones?" Serena asked pointing in the direction of the girl.

"Yeah, how do you know who we are?" Martha asked sceptically.

"Let's just say we have a mutual friend. A skinny, brown suit wearing, very confusing, alien mutual friend," Serena replied.

"You know the Doctor?" Mickey asked.

"Yup," she replied nodding, "I travelled with him until recently when I left,"

"Why did you leave?" Martha asked curiously, but Serena didn't have a chance to reply as Gwen entered the room, and Ianto and Jack left his office.

"Anything?" Jack asked Serena

"Nope," she replied. Jack nodded his head.

"I want everyone in the boardroom now, we have things to discuss," Jack stated. Mickey and Martha exchanged confused glances.

"What things Jack?" Martha asked

"I'll fill you in, in a minute," he replied making his way to the boardroom. Gwen silently followed and Serena smiled at Martha and Mickey in a way that told them that even she knew what was going on before doing the same as Gwen.

A few minutes later, everyone was gathered in the boardroom and was up to speed with the case.

"So, Gwen what have you found out about The Academy?" Jack asked, and everyone turned their attention towards her.

"Well, it's like Serena said every couple of months they seem to be advertising that there are spaces available at the school. A few reporters got a bit curious as to why that was and asked the school why that was, the reply they received was the same 'it's a difficult school with the best standards and not everyone can take it' and they all believed that. Except for one reporter who didn't, and started to investigate further and went to look for students that 'dropped out' or were 'kicked out'-"

"Who's this reporter?" Jack asked interrupting Gwen

"A Chris Reynolds," she replied "But here's the thing, he was never able to get in contact with those students,"

"Why not?" Martha asked

"Because the day he got the list of students and their contact details he became missing persons. And then a few days ago he was found, dead," she answered

"How did he die?" Serena questioned

"Drowned, apparently," Gwen replied

"But you don't believe that do you?" Serena countered

"Nope, it looks like it was staged. So, there is definitely something going on there Jack alien or not," Gwen finished. Jack nodded, and everyone shifted their focus back on the Captain.

"Ok, so we're gonna have a look at this, if it's alien then we'll deal with it if not we'll give the case over to Andy and the police so they can deal with it," Jack stated. "To know what's going on, one of us is going to have to go undercover as a student in the school. Serena that's your job," he explained looking over to Serena during the last part, who nodded in understanding and acceptance of her role.

"No," Ianto said shaking his head

"Ianto don't," Serena warned

"Serena you are not doing that," Ianto replied ignoring her

"Why not?" Jack asked

"Not after the last time. Jack choose someone else,"

"Ianto don't be stupid, last time was nothing," Serena said getting angry

"Nothing," Ianto said incredulously, "You almost died,"

"That was different," Serena whispered

"Yeah. Different how?" Ianta questioned, a question to which Serena had no answer and thus remained silent, unable to make eye contact with Ianto. "That's what I thought," Ianto said before leaving the room. Jack moved to go after him but Serena stopped him, shaking her head.

"No, let me, it's my fault anyway," Serena said. Jack allowed her leave and remained in the room. Even after the two had left everyone else remained silent.

Serena found Ianto in the archives trying to do work, anything to get his mind of what had happened.

"Ianto," Serena whispered gauging his reaction to her presence

"Don't, just don't Serena," he replied. Serena didn't reply but she slowly made her way over to him, placing her hand on his arm before speaking.

"Ianto, last time was an accident, no-one knew that, that would happen. Things like that rarely happen and we all thought it was safe. But I didn't die, I am standing right here and I've learned from that, it won't happen again, especially if it is alien," she said slowly. Ianto turned to look at her, and sighed.

"I know, but still I almost lost you, you don't know how scary that was for me," he replied quietly.

"I realize how scary that must have been, trust me I've been in the position you were in," she muttered, "But, we have to do something, besides you will be there this time helping out, what could possibly go wrong?" Ianto groaned.

"A lot of things," he muttered smiling.

"Yeah, yeah," Serena replied pulling Ianto into a hug.

Jack watched from his office as Serena and Ianto emerged from the archives holding hands, he frowned. He continued watching as the two hugged, his frown deepening as Ianto smiles after Serena whispered something in his ear. The two then parted and Serena made her way to his office while Ianto moved towards the tourist information centre above the Hub.

He shifts his attention towards the piles of paperwork on his desk before Serena reaches his door. She knocks and slowly opens the door smiling. Jack looked up and smiled before motioning for her to enter.

"Hey," she said walking in and sitting down in the chair opposite his desk, "So he's ok. Ianto I mean, it's just stuff happened and it really shook him up, but it doesn't help that he's a tad overprotective of the people he loves," she said with a shrug at the end. He frowned slightly, then quickly tried to cover it.

"Don't look like that; he doesn't love me like that if that's what you're worried about. He loves me as a best friend, he's not leaving you anytime soon, I think he loves you too much for that," she said smiling.

"You think?" Jack asks unsure.

"Oh definitely," Serena replied nodding her head. Jack beamed.

"So say if I ask him to marry me, do you think he would say yes? Hypothetically of course," Jack questioned.

"Have you met the family yet?" she inquired. Jack shook his head no and Serena frowned.

"Then I don't know, I think he would want to say yes but his families opinion matters a lot to him and if they don't like you I'm not sure whether he would still say yes, but if they do then I'm sure he would say yes," she replied

"Oh," he replied quietly.

"Don't worry though Christmas is coming up, maybe I can convince him to let you come with us back home and then you can meet the family," Serena suggested. Jack nodded, after thinking it through.

"So, is he ok with you going undercover?" Jack asked

"Yeah, he's fine with it now," she replied

"What did happen last time?" Jack asked

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Serena said. Jack nodded his head in understanding, he knew a lot about not wanting to talk about things, though he sometimes made an exception for Ianto, "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, first you need to get in. Gwen said that they're holding auditions at the moment. Mickey's sorting out your application but the rest is up to you, you need to get in and found out as much as you can before we decide whether or not to go in," Jack explained. Serena said nothing, just nodded, before getting up and leaving the office.

**Thoughts? Please let me know! Reviews really motivate me to write and as a result would result in faster updates. *hint! hint!* Until next time, Thank you and Goodnight! Oh and REVIEW PLEASE!**


	4. School and Trips

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: Enjoy chapter four, it skips a bit through time but that's only because the rest of the time isn't very important to the story. Is that ok?  
**

"So, we've come up with a whole new identity for you when you go undercover ok?" Mickey asked

"Yeah, so who am I?" Serena questioned

"You will be Sarah Reynolds, 18 years old from London where your parents are but while at the Academy you'll be living with family in Cardiff, which is Ianto so you won't be living there," he explained while passing her over documents for her new identity. "Your audition is scheduled for next Tuesday, which gives you a week to get ready for it, you have to sing two songs," he continued passing her the list she had to choose from. "Once you get in then we'll talk about what you need to do, for now just get in ok?" Mickey asked.

"No problem. So which songs do you think I should sing?" she asked

"To be honest I don't know just figure it out, in the meantime we still have work to do," he replied. She nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said walking over to help Gwen

* * *

Before she knew Tuesday had arrived and she found herself standing outside The Academy in awe, it was a huge school. The main building was surrounded by plush green grass, and a gravel driveway marked the route from the gates she was standing at and the entrance, which wasn't really the entrance just an archway into the courtyard, in which there was a circular water fountain in the middle. The school itself had two towers on either side of the main building which she was later told was where the dorms were situated. As she made her way towards the wooden entrance, she became anxious. Walking through the wooden door she entered a brightly light reception area, it seemed that everything was of top quality but there she could sense something a bit off within the walls of the otherwise beautiful building. She made her way to the receptionist showing her, her id before being shown the way to the performance hall where she would be auditioning. The rest of the school was just as lavishly decorated as the reception but the strange feeling she had about the place remained throughout her journey to the hall, but she got through it, she had to, she needed to get in and find out what was causing it.

* * *

She walked slowly through the door into her apartment in silence, as she reached the living room she saw Jack and Ianto sitting on the sofa nervously, when she walked in they turned to look at her expectantly, and then frowned when they saw the expression on her face.

"Well?" Jack asked already knowing the answer, no.

"I got in," she said smiling. Ianto quickly got up at hugged her, picking her up as he did so and spinning her around. Jack frowned at the two before smiling when they both turned around to look at him. Ianto then went into the kitchen to make them all some coffee, while Jack and Serena flicked through TV channels before they found a decent show.

* * *

During a slow day in the Hub, Serena made her way up to see Ianto in the tourist office.

"Hey," she said as she walked into the room Ianto spent most of his days in.

"HI," he replied unsure if he wanted to know what was coming next.

"You going to your mam's for Christmas this year?" she asked

"Yeah, I guess I should this year," he answered

"You guess? You're so going, if I have to you have to and I'm not even family technically,"

"You are family Serena, don't ever think your not," Ianto replied sternly

"Ok, ok so you're coming?"

"Yes, I'm coming," Ianto said sighing

"Ever thought about taking Jack with you?" she enquired. Ianto looked at her as if she was crazy. "What?" she asked innocently

"You know I can't," he replied

"Yes you can, he's your boyfriend he should be there it's not like he has anywhere better to be, are you really gonna let him spend Christmas alone?" Ianto looked like he was considering the idea before shaking his head no.

"You don't even have to tell them he's your boyfriend yet, just a friend who had no where else to go," she said trying to convince him to say yes, apparently it worked he sighed before replying.

"Ok, fine he can come," Serena jumped up and down before hugging Ianto, kissing him on the cheek and running back down to the Hub and straight to Jack's office.

"Hey guess what?" she asked Jack as she barged into his office smiling like a maniac.

"What?" Jack asked warily

"You need to pack," she stated

"What for?" he enquired

"Because you are spending Christmas with me, Ianto and his family," she replied excited

"Really?" Serena didn't speak she just nodded smiled before being engulfed in a bone crashing hug courtesy of Jack.

"Can't breathe," she gasped

"Oh, sorry," Jack said letting go of her.

* * *

The road trip down do Ianto's mothers house was surprisingly quiet. For Jack it was because of his nerves, for Ianto and Serena it was because they were unsure of what their family would say as neither of them turned up the previous year, there wasn't even a phone call. They were both imagining the torture their family would put them though and cringed at their thoughts. Soon enough, they reached their destination. The house seemed much more like a cottage; it looked homey Jack thought as he exited the car. Ianto was the first one though the door wanting to get it over with. Serena grabbed Jack's arm before they reached the door.

"Don't be put out if he introduces you as a friend, he'll explain to you later if he does ok?" she said

"Ok," he replied before they walked into the house. Serena was immediately being hugged by a lot of people, while Jack stood awkwardly to the side. Ianto moved towards him, and waited for his family to release Serena before introducing them to Jack.

**So? What did you think? Reviews are happily accepted, it helps me to know whether people are reading this and if they aren't it makes me wary to post. So if you are reading this and want me to keep posting please review and let me know, please? Next time: Jack gets to know Ianto's family and learns more about Serena plus a surprise visitor! **


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